Oblivion
is an incredibly stupid movie without a single ounce of life in it. If you have
been going to the movies at all within the last five years you will notice
within the first five minutes that almost everything in Oblivion – from the
plot to the visuals to the movement to even the subtlest of actor and directorial
gestures – is stolen from other, shockingly recent movies. If you have been enjoying movies for longer than that, God help you. I don't mean to overstate myself
but I could not believe my eyes at how recycled the picture really is. This is a
movie that should be tarred and feathered on grounds of theft.

Or
maybe just the director. According to Joseph Kosinski, the man himself, the film “pays
homage to science fiction films of the 1970s”. ‘Homage’ is a lovely little
word, isn’t it? This is Mr Kosinski second film after TRON: Legacy. Remember that one? Well, this one is based on ideas and storylines from his original comic book.

Set
after an alien invasion 60 years earlier which nearly destroyed the planet, as
the blundering and forced first-person narration tells us at the film’s commencement,
former Marine commander Jack Harper, played by Tom Cruise, is one of the last
few drone mechanics situated on Earth. This is the second film in a row where
Mr Cruise plays a Jack. Both films are certainly jack.

He
lives in an aerial barbican fluctuating high above the Earth which he and his
colleague, played by Andrea Riseborough (whom one can’t help but feel sorry for),
are part of the operation to clean up the remaining forces of the invasion and
extract the planet's residual resources. Nearing the end of his mission, Jack
rescues a female stranger, played by Olga Kurylenko, from a crashed spaceship. She
looks like Olga Kurylenko. And is as splendid to look at as Olga Kurylenko. Isn’t
that peachy? And also, Tom Cruise is there.

After
that, a whole cacophony of nonsense follows involving memory (again!), clones, deception,
masquerading, shrouding mystery and Morgan Freeman (whose character is introduced
through his voice, of course.) The “mystery” aspect of the film makes about as
much sense as National Treasure (2004), and is as easy to decipher as one’s hands from
one’s feet. But if you are extra, extra dim, have no fear because Jack will incessantly
describe and narrate everything that is going on, both internally and
externally, at every moment it is being done, or being thought, or being
about-to-be thought, or being pre-thought, or being thought by someone else.

The
look of the picture is ravishingly uninteresting. Not only because thematically
it has been hacksawed from other movies, but also because of how restricted and
bound the artistry on display really is. Oblivion is being marketed as an
Emmerich-esque exterior feast, which is simply not true. Most of the film is
shot in closeup, and on the occasion that Mr Kosinski decides to masturbate with
pretty-postcard shots, they are more obviously studio-bound than The 39 Steps (1936).
When I say studio-bound, I mean computerized, which renders any reaction to
visual beauty redundant.If a film
contains $120 million worth of pixels and is still dull, you have been jipped (I
was informed after seeing the film that they did location shooting is Louisiana.
I still feel the same.) And for great work by Claudio Miranda, I recommend
purchasing Life of Pi (2012) on DVD instead.

Even
Mr Cruise's performance seems to be stolen from old Tom Cruise performances. Rather
than give a damn, he seems to be doing "The Tom Cruise". From his
wearisome gazes to his veiny exclamations to his hot-potato run to his
toothpaste commercial smile. You won’t find any liberation with the rest of the
cast either. Melissa Leo literally phones it in.

I
can guarantee you with all my intelligence that there is absolutely no reason
whatsoever for Oblivion to exist. It is a $120 million appointment with a sperm bank and nothing more. Andrew Stanton, Christopher Nolan, Steven
Spielberg and others have all made films within the last five years that
contain the same, but of a better standard. When the latest sci-fi picture is
released, I certainly I do not expect to be reminded of Don Bluth’s great
animated folly Titan AE (2000), which I preferred. I don’t know, maybe Cruise’s
paycheck was too low or something.